Summary
House. C17 with C19 and C20 alterations and additions.
Reasons for Designation
21 Fromefield is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as an example of a C17 house;
* for its retention of a significant proportion of C17 fabric which provides evidence of the building’s original plan form, and includes characteristic features of the period including mullion windows;
* for the evidence of its phased development in the differences in stone walling and window treatment.
Historic interest:
* as an example of a house that has evolved from the C17 to the C19 to reflect changes in architectural fashions and expectations, as evidenced in its early C19 façade.
Group value:
* for its contribution to our understanding of the historic development and character of Fromefield and its relationship with neighbouring listed buildings from the C17, C18 and C19.
History
21 Fromefield appears to have origins as a C17 single-pile, two-storey house, with a slightly later C17 two-storey rear wing. The L-shaped plan of this building is shown on a map by Jeremiah Cruse dated 1813, as well as the subsequent Tithe map for the parish of Frome Selwood, dated 1840. It appears that the principal (west) elevation was re-fronted in the early to mid-C19, and the Ordnance Survey (OS) town plan of 1886 includes a boundary wall to the front of the building with steps leading to the front door. This map also shows a series of additions to the rear (east) elevation and two cottages, 22 and 23 Fromefield, attached to the side (south) elevation. These two cottages, along with 21 Fromefield, were inherited by an Edward Palmer in 1909. Prior to 1927, Palmer is known to have demolished the two cottages and replaced them with a single dwelling, 22 Fromefield.
Details
House. C17 with C19 and C20 alterations and additions.
MATERIALS: constructed of roughly coursed local rubble stone, with brick stacks. The C19 façade to the principal elevation is rendered. The roof is covered in Roman tiles.
PLAN: originally a two-storey single-pile house, with a two-room plan and a central staircase to the rear. Mid-to late C17 two-storey rear wing; the additional two-storey and one-storey ranges to the rear are mid-to late C19.
EXTERIOR: the three-bay principal (west) elevation is an early to mid-C19 re-fronting with a raised parapet wall; behind are two late C19 dormer windows each with a hipped roof and finial. The symmetrical frontage with gable end stacks comprises a central six-panel door (the upper two panels are glazed) beneath a flat hood supported on corbels, and flanked by sixteen-pane hornless sash windows; that to the ground-floor left has been replaced with a plain glass shop window beneath a hoodmould. To the side (north) elevation is a ground-floor shop window and set-back entrance to the shop, and to the first floor is a blocked, early to mid-C17, two-light, flat-faced stone mullion window set beneath a stone hoodmould with label stops. The slightly set-forward two-storey rear wing has a truncated gable end stack and two mid-to late C17 cross windows with ovolo mullions and transoms set beneath hoodmoulds with label stops. The rear (east) elevation has a central gabled bay forming the rear stair tower. To the left is a C19 two-storey gabled wing, and to the centre is a single-storey gabled addition that appears to be late C19.
INTERIOR: not inspected.
